In November 2016 I was honoured and blessed being able to attend a very special event in a remote country that hadn't never let me go since my first visit in 2014 … while it was always on my agenda to visit Bhutan in fall 2016 for the 2nd time I stumbled upon this advertising from the GNH-Centre in Bhutan a few months ahead of departure. The Workshop was created for „young“ leaders from Australia …. well, after a simple, but long application period I was submitted to attend, of course because I am „young at heart“ … not really related to Australia, but it didn’t matter at the end –  …. thanks again to the facilitators of #HumanKindEnterprises, #GrossNationalHappinessCentre and #DigitalStorytellers for selecting me!

The workshop concept was built on 3 main pillars :

1. About Gross National Happiness

Introduction to Gross National Happiness as main paradigm of development – to learn from the country where Happiness as main goal for development had been established in it’s constitution: A value oriented approach to integrate human wellbeing and ecological sustainability with the ambition to strengten and to grow social life, cultural identity and economical wealth on a long term perspective.

2. About Transformation Driven By Mindfulness

Unlock approaches and strategies for inner growth, self-development as well as for establishing change and transformation in individual circles of influence within the social context or business context each of the attendees interact in. One concept which was used as a framework, helpful for organizational transformation, specially in business context, was about the „The Theory U: Leading From The Future As It Emerges“ by Otto Scharmer – which leads to a process from Co-Initiating via Co-Sensing, Co-Evolving to Co-Creating the Prototype of the New …
Otto Scharmer and The Theory U

3. About Storytelling

We were guided how to bring our story of transformation on the road to gain exposure creating our manifesto, writing a blog, create video-stories and learning tools and approaches how to spread the message of our personal transformation journey.

Target Audience:

I was impressed by the intensity of empowerment for development by the attendees of this group. Geographically most of the attendees were recruited from Australia, where the initiative had been created to broadcast the story of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness concept to a broader audience in Australia. Beside myself 2 other attendees were originally from Europe, from UK. Most of the attendees have a professional link to NGO’s and organizations operating in the field of social impact, like in Healthcare Sectors, Mental Coaching or in Environmental Protection. A few other attendees are operating in more business-related sectors, like Startups, with a bigger focus on how to create valuable and sustainable growth beyond the profit-line. We had as well professional film-makers and communication experts in our group. One attendee from the UK focus on all kind of „Happiness“ and how to establish the real sense of Happiness in Society and Economy. He was the author of „Mindfulness for Dummies“ Amazon Link to Mindfulness For Dummies – and Shamash actually was THE performance of real fun, all would agree. Among a lot of impressive energy among the whole group, he was the lighttower of real Happiness! Last but not least, Bron, our youngest attendee at heart (Bron and me were the two oldest attendees in the group), moderates Laughing Clubs in Australia.

Have a look at this video about the special spirit of this workshop based on video material we all created during our journey: Slow Change Experience, The Video

How change and transformation drives me and how I became aware of this during my stay for this workshop in Bhutan, follow this: Why attending a workshop about Change: Become a Scout of Change.